The 12th annual touring rock specatacular that is Ozzfest, has been announced today – and good news is – it will be free!

The 25-date festival, which kicks off on July 7, will see bands performing for free – with their costs being covered by sponsorship deals.

Explaining the innovative decision to make the whole shebang free to fans, Sharon Osbourne said “For the last few years, ticket prices have steadily climbed as artists demand more and more money for summer tours. We certainly want everybody to make money, however we also want the kids to be able to afford to come out and have an incredible experience.”

Ozzy Osbourne, the festival’s founder, will return to headline the event this year, after playing the event’s second stage for fun last year.

Ozzy has promised to unveil new songs from the studio album he is currently working on, his first since 2001.

More acts will be announced in the coming weeks, and as Sharon points out, it won’t be the easiest idea to propagate to major touring acts, but she hopes they will share her vision.

She said: “We know there aren’t any major headlining acts that would tour all summer for nothing, but we’re confident we can turn some of the genre’s biggest bands on to what we’re doing and have them come out to play a date or two. If they’re in town and want the rush of performing in front of 20,000 frenzied kids, they’re more than welcome to join us. They can sell their t-shirts, CDs and whatever else they’ve got.”

The cities Ozzfest will call at have not yet been finalised, but kicks off in Los Angeles on July 7 and will include San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Pittsburgh and Nashville.

There are no plans, as yet, to bring Ozzfest back to the UK.

Click here for future ticket details on Ozzfest.com

Click here to see the full Ozzfest 2007 press conference transcript